Has the infamous DB Cooper been unmasked? Amateur sleuth claims he '98%' knows who skyjacker is
An amateur sleuth from Arizona has named a new suspect in the infamous D. B. Cooper skyjacking case and claims he is convinced a man whom the FBI had interviewed in 2004 is the culprit. The Arizona man says he is "98 percent" convinced the FBI has interviewed the real D. B. Cooper and misidentified the jump zone.
D. B. Cooper was the name given to the anonymous man who hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines out of Portland, Oregon, in 1971. The man parachuted from the flight between Portland and Seattle with an estimated $200,000 in ransom and was never heard from again. The mystery led to the development of many media reports, conspiracy theories, as well as an extensive FBI search which took place over four decades.
Despite the numerous and varying suspects, the FBI had zeroed in on one person in particular; a U.S. marine corps veteran who had assisted and helped refugees in Vietnam, Sheridan Peterson. As reported by the Oregonian, the FBI had gone to Peterson's home in 2004. It was reported he was aware of the D. B. Cooper case but told agents he was residing in Nepal in a mud hut at the time the hijacking had taken place.
A Phoenix-based entrepreneur, Eric Ulis who has been studying the case for several years is convinced the FBI had the right guy. Both Ulis and Peterson had also exchanged emails a couple of years ago, but Peterson never confessed to being D. B. Cooper. According to Ulis, the FBI had definitely misidentified Cooper's jump zone. Ulis believes it is likely the skyjacker had come to a small isle along the Columbia River post studying wind speeds, free fall data, and other information.
Ulis had taken a boat to Bachelor Island’s gritty beach in order to try and establish "how best to conduct the search" and shared with the Oregonian that he would return with a team of searchers to look for the skyjackers parachute. "The parachute is here. He wouldn’t have taken it with him. It’s here. I feel strongly something is here. We just have to find it," he said.